Venezuela

Carlos Parra used to love waking up to see his pet albino boxer, Nina. Now, seeing her skeletal body on the floor next to his bed has become a daily reminder of the economic crisis engulfing Venezuela.

His other dog's thick fur barely hides her ribcage as Parra struggles to feed his pets after losing his job at a shoe store.

"It's terrible to sit and eat, see them watching me with hunger, and not be able to do anything," said the 30-year-old.

As Venezuela's economic crunch worsens, food shortages and rising poverty are forcing once middle-class Venezuelans to do the unthinkable: let their pets starve or abandon them in the streets.

As a young man, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro played electric guitar, not sports. But like the men who mentored him, Cuba's Fidel Castro and the late Hugo Chávez, he views the country's Olympic achievements as a validation of his economic and social...

McDonald's Corp.'s largest franchisee has had to stop selling the Big Mac in Venezuela as it can't source the bread it needs to make the famous sandwich.
Buenos Aires-based Arcos Dorados Holdings, which operates more than 2,000 McDonald's restaurants...

Tebie Gonzalez and Ramiro Ramirez still have their sleek apartment, a fridge covered with souvenir magnets from vacations aboard, and closets full of name brand clothes. But they feel hunger drawing close.
So when the Venezuelan government opened the...

In the darkness the warehouse looks like any other, a metal-roofed hangar next to a clattering overpass, with homeless people sleeping nearby in the shadows.
But inside, workers quietly unload black plastic crates filled with merchandise so valuable that...

Cuban officials announced Tuesday night that they have detected the first case of the Zika virus transmitted inside the country, ending Cuba's status as one of the last nations in the hemisphere without domestic cases of the disease that has been linked...

A pregnant woman in Australia has tested positive for the Zika virus after traveling overseas, health officials said Wednesday. The woman was diagnosed in Queensland state after returning from a trip abroad, the Queensland Department of Health said in a...

Health officials on Tuesday reported that a person in Texas has become infected with the Zika virus through sex in the first case of the illness being transmitted within the United States amid the current outbreak in Latin America.
The unidentified...

Dancers from across the world will perform on South Florida stages throughout the week for the XXI International Ballet Festival of Miami.
Hailing from countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Japan, Italy and Spain, these dancers will perform...

Amid looting and unrest in several Venezuelan cities over electricity rationing and scarcities of food, medicine and even coffins, Venezuela’s opposition on Wednesday launched a recall drive to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office.
For months,...

Venezuela’s supreme court ruled Monday that the newly installed National Assembly is in contempt of court for swearing in three ineligible legislators, and has declared any laws and other actions the body takes to be null and void.
The ruling sets the...

Venezuela on Monday announced a 60-day extension of its partial closure of the border with Colombia after President Nicolas Maduro said his country was under attack by neighboring paramilitary groups, drug traffickers and black marketeers.
The move...